Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5508 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-03-24
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Italian, Hebrew
• Dubbed in: Italian
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 112 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Grab your tissues and send the guys away, because Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is the most pedigreed chick-flick since Steel Magnolias. You can tell by the title and the novelish names of the Louisiana ladies from Rebecca Wells' precious bestseller.

First there's Sidda (Sandra Bullock), a successful playwright still wrestling with her manipulative mother, Vivi (Ellen Burstyn), after a traumatic upbringing. Then there's long-time friends Teensy (Fionnula Flanagan), Necie (Shirley Knight), and Caro (scene-stealer Maggie Smith), from Vivi's secret club of "Ya-Ya Priestesses", together since childhood and determined to heal the rift between Sidda and her mum. Through an ambitious flashback structure (including Ashley Judd as the younger Vivi), screenwriter and first-time director Callie Khouri (who wrote Thelma & Louise) establishes a rich context for this mother-daughter reunion. There's plenty of humour to temper the drama, which inspires Bullock's best work in years. Definitely worth a look for the curious, but only fans of Wells' fiction will feel any twinge of loyalty. --Jeff Shannon

Special Features
English
Region 2
Filmmakers Audio Commentary
Director Audio Commentary
Ashley Judd Audio Commentary
Unlocking The Secrets Of The Ya Ya Sisterhood
Alison Krausse Music Video Sitting In The Window Of My Room
Additional Scenes
Ya Ya Sisterhood Scrapbook

Synopsis
Sidda Walker (Sandra Bullock), who is high on life--about to marry Connor (Angus MacFadyen) and flushed with success because her new play is about to open on Broadway--gives an unguarded interview to TIME Magazine. After reading the interview, Sidda's mother, Vivi (Ellen Burnstein), is so livid that she disowns Sidda, takes down her pictures, and refuses to attend her daughter's wedding. Trying to heal the rift between mother and daughter, Vivi's best friends, Caro (Maggie Smith), Teensy (Fionnula Flanagan), and Necie (Shirley Knight), go to New York, take Sidda to dinner, slip her a Mickey Finn, and spirit her off to Louisiana.
First-time director Callie Khouri (writer of THELMA AND LOUISE) uses an intricate series of flashbacks to slowly reveal the DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD, which is based on the book by Rebecca Wells. The flashbacks are triggered by a scrapbook that Caro, Teensy, and Necie show Sidda. The scrapbook chronicles the hopes, dreams and disappointments that they shared with Vivi. Standouts in the great cast are Ashley Judd, as the younger Vivi, and Maggie Smith as the feisty Caro.

Customer Reviews

Understaning one's parent means understand oneself better - the power of friendship
Understanding one's parent is a difficult issue but one has to do it because it tells you much about yourself. I could sympatize very much with the basic story as I "discover" as well secrets about my parents which helped me to understand them better. But this is as well a movie about friendship, friendship which last a life time and friends who are there and act in the most difficult of times. But it is not a sad or too deep a movie. There is enough to lighten it up, but the message does not get lost. I enjoyed it very much!!

But I have to admit as much as I love Maggie Smith she is not right in the role of a Southern American. She is simply too British for this.

Otherwise an enjoyable movie.

A Quietly Satisfying Chick Flick
Having been completely hooked on the book of the same name, I expected the film to be just as good. Although the actresses provide great performances, it is not quite as special as the novel. The characters have been "flattened" for the screen, and the storyline has been mutilated.
However, as a chick flick it serves it's purpose as an enjoyable experience, and still has that essence of Ya-Ya about it.

THERE IS NOTHING DIVINE ABOUT IT...
This is a film about mother/daughter relationships and about unconditional love. Despite being marked by fine performances, the film never really grabs the viewer, at least, not this viewer. While moderately enjoyable, I found the film to fall a little flat, as the whole Ya-Ya thing left me cold, finding it all a bit silly.

Not having read the book of the same name upon which the film is based, I had no frame of reference. Judging strictly on the merits of the film, I found that it has its ups and downs. The name of the film is apparently derived from a childhood club to which a group of lifelong friends belonged as children in which they were all Ya-Ya priestesses. These friends, of which Vivi (Ellyn Burstyn) is at the center of this story, are all trying to reconcile Vivi to her daughter Sidda (Sandra Bullock). The friends, as well as Vivi, are all aging southern belles from Louisiana. Sidda, however, has moved North, where she is a budding, successful playwright.

Sidda had a traumatic childhood, as her mother is a mercurial woman with a drinking problem. It seems that Vivi never got over losing her childhood sweetheart during the war. She married another man, Shep Walker (James Garner), Sidda's father and a man who has loved Vivi unconditionally throughout their entire married life, and proceeded to put her husband and her children through a living hell. Still, Vivi and Sidda manage to plod along as so many mothers and daughters do, until Vivi goes too far and Sidda decides that enough is enough.

The story of Vivi, Sidda, and Shep is told in flashbacks, which provide the most interesting parts of the movie. Ashley Judd is simply sensational as the young Vivi, and she outshines all the film and stage veterans in this film, infusing the role with a gritty reality. David Lee Smith is very good as the hunky young Shep, the husband who tries to understand a mercurial wife who has become unbalanced by her longing for what could never be.

Ellen Burstyn, as the senior Vivi, is not as compelling as the younger one portrayed by Ashley Judd. The senior Vivi comes across as a silly, petulant, spoiled, self-absorbed woman who needs a good swift kick in the butt. Consequently, the viewer cares very little for what happens to her, even though she is eventually reconciled to her daughter and comes to appreciate her patient, selfless husband.

Maggie Smith, Fionnula Flanagan, and Shirley Knight are all excellent as Vivi's lifelong friends, though Ms. Smith occasionally seems to have a bit of difficulty suppressing her British accent. They inject a touch of humor into their attempts to reconcile the estranged Vivi and Sidda, which is a good counterpoint to the underlying pathos of the film. Sandra Bullock is also excellent as the fed up Sidda, who has said that enough is enough. As in all her film, she charms the viewer. James Garner is wonderful as Vivi's long suffering husband, who comes to be appreciated by Vivi only at the end.

Unfortunately, the director appears to have striven for mawkishness. This alone is enough for me to counsel viewers to rent, and not buy, this film.